Entertainment

On the Air: WEEK feels Granite shakeup

When Greenwich, Conn.-based Silver Point Capital bailed out Granite Broadcasting, the parent company of WEEK-TV, Channel 25, after Granite declared bankruptcy in 2006, it was a safe bet that changes would be coming down the road.

The road ended last week for Granite’s top management, who stepped down. CEO Don Cornwell, who founded the company in 1988 (with WEEK and a Duluth, Minn., station); chief operating officer John Deushane, who got his start at WEEK; and Larry Wills, the chief financial officer, are out. Silver Point’s Peter Markham and Duane Lammers are in.

In a memo to employees about the shakeup, WEEK GM Mark DeSantis, who is sending out as many bulletins these days as some of his news staff, sought to calm the troops. "While I know this is a significant change, the most important thing remains the same: The Peoria operation is a strong and thriving local broadcast facility," he said.

"Today’s announced changes will not affect the day-to-day operations here," said DeSantis in the Aug. 11 memo.

Deushane was the WEEK alumnus who made good at Granite. He began directing newscasts at Channel 25 in 1976, later serving as the station’s marketing director and general manager before climbing the ladder with Granite.

Mentioned in the Granite press release on the managerial changes is the identification of WEEK as "one of the most profitable properties in the Granite portfolio."

Unfortunately, that’s akin to being the best rower on a leaky lifeboat. You’re paddling hard but you’re still miles from shore.

You have to wonder how much better off WEEK – not to mention so many other local media outlets around the country would be – had they not been snatched up by media chains whose chief function seems to be to pump valuable resources out of the community that local media outlet is ostensibly serving?

Channel 25 remains the market’s TV news leader (although we no longer have Nielsen numbers to prove it) but viewers have contacted this newspaper about experiencing an increasing number of technical glitches on the station. The transition to an automated control room – and the loss of so many trained technicians – has left some viewers in the dark – literally.

Will Silver Point complete the computer takeover underway at WEEK or will the control voice of Fort Wayne, Granite’s Midwest hub, be silenced? Stay tuned.

Online TV

A new survey by Rockville, Md.-based ChangeWave Research reveals a move away from traditional TV to watching programs online – by baby boomers.

No, we’re not talking about your 20-somethings whose laptops seem permanently implanted but folks in the 45- to 63-year-old category.

"The results point to a powerful shift occurring among boomers away from traditional TV towards new types of online services and entertainment," noted the report’s authors, Paul Carton and Andy Golub.

Fear not – just like nature, as Jeff Goldblum explained in "Jurassic Park," traditional TV "will find a way" – like Comcast glomming on to every sport it can find to keep folks hooked on the cable.

Supposedly, 44 percent of those boomers surveyed by ChangeWave reported they’d be willing to give up their TV service, if necessary. I don’t know what "if necessary" means but I’m guessing the big screen just purchased for the living room isn’t likely to suddenly wind up on the curb.

Steve Tarter can be reached at 686-3260 or moc.ratsjpnull@retrats.